Still Doll
by usagi-strike
Summary: BEWARE, YE HOMOPHOBIC AND CHASTE OF HEART; HERE BE EROTIC YAOI AND BL. Now then! It is said that, deep within the dark confines of the forest, on the outskirts of town, there is a dilapidated house in which rests a beautifully crafted doll with fiery red hair and a bright emerald green eye...
1. In the Forests of the Night

**CHAPTER 1**

**Had this idea while the family was watching "Once Upon a Time," some time ago naow. This is an elaborate doll house. Still… read on, please! It aint gonna be that long, seriously. Only bout 20 chapters… But then, that's what I said about my other fanfic, AA, and it's already exceeded the number of chapters I'd planned for it. Still. Read on, yall.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN DGM, ONLYMY OC (the useless guy in this chapter who won't make a reappearance again. Ever. Well, except maybe as a corpse, somewhere…).**

**these things count as line breaks → OxO**

In the Forests of the Night

There was a weighted silence in the forest, as if it were a living, breathing thing that had held its breath in anticipation and apprehension of what was going to happen next. Though the forest hadn't any eyes of its own, it didn't matter, for there were more than enough that night, as the boy ran for his life.

He panted, flicking errant branches out of his way as he glanced over his shoulder into the dark gloom behind him, searching for the bright red flame. If he wasn't careful, he'd get burned.

Badly.

Chest heaving, he turned and looked up at the sky.

The moon. The inconstant moon.

He gasped when he tripped over a tree root and cried out in pain when something sharp pierced his skin.

"Gaaah…" he hissed, wincing as his leg thrashed and jerked. "Damn it, _damn it…!_" He bit his lip and tried to stand up and moaned when his feet slipped on the slick ground. He began to cry to himself when the trees and bushes around him started to rustle. He started rocking back and forth as he sat there on the forest floor, the footfalls growing louder as _it_ drew closer.

"Need a little help?" He curled in on himself when he saw the familiar figure, from the corner of his eye.

"What, the silent treatment now, is it?" He wrapped his arms around his chest, which was heaving uncontrollably as the sobs grew louder and more frantic.

"No needa cry," it laughed, drawing closer. He looked up and blanched when he saw the hammer in its hand. "It'll stop hurting, in a minute or two."

"P-Please don't," he begged, raising a hand to the red-haired figure. "I-I don't wanna die…!"

He lowered his hand when it smiled angelically at him. "All living things have to die sometime, ya know. Humans can't live forever. If you were like _me_, on the other hand… well, things would be different. But you aren't, so… this is it." Anguish twisted his face as the familiar figure shrugged one shoulder at him. "Sorry. No hard feelings or anything."

The brandished hammer swung down at him, and then—

Darkness.

**O_O**

"**In the Forests of the Night" is the title of a book, didja knooow~? By Amelia Atwater Rhodes. It's a good book, though it's short. The story takes the span of… one night, I think? Maybe two. Read it!**

**Oh, yeah, did yall like that first chapter? Imma keep posting, even if you don't. Review and whatnot. Though it's not necessary, it makes me happy.**


	2. Guttersnipes and Turkish Delights

**CHAPTER 2**

**Gah, kudos to ****FallenAngelLilith, first to review! Yes, she is an EPIC WRITER. That book was the first one I read, out of what she's published, and it's my favorite out of her books still, alongside Midnight Predator (I LOOOVE Jaguar~!).**

**Csilladream (sooo glad I was able to keep you interested!), not to worry! Lala has quite some influence on this fanfic (and Lavi). Anyways! Onto MY story now, yalls. Oh, and yes, this chapter is Allen's mainly, though not for LOONG~?**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN DGM, ONLY MY OCs (unimportant side characters who'll only appear once, twice of they're lucky).**

**O.O**

Guttersnipes and Turkish Delights

Dappled sunlight fell across Allen's brow, and the young white-haired youth smiled as the warm scent of freshly-baked bread wafted over him. He sighed when his stomach grumbled.

"Ah, I'm so hungry…" he mumbled, rubbing his stomach. He opened his eyes when he smelled sweet freesia and lavender. His gaze locked onto the two girls slowly walking towards him, decked out in layers and layers of pink and purple dresses, thin white shawls draped over their dainty shoulders.

As one of them slightly lifted her white petticoat, showing off the pale skin of her ankle, Allen gulped.

They were cute.

Unfortunately for them, that wasn't what had caught his attention. Allen's mouth started watering as the bag of tarts and Turkish delight in their hands came closer and closer to him.

"Did you hear about the new disappearance?" Purple asked, covering her mouth with one gloved hand.

"No, what is it?" Pink breathed, her shrill voice aflutter with curiosity.

"One of my father's maids was talking about it this morning! You know how some young man went missing last month?"

"Oh, right! What was the fellow's name… Chaoji, wasn't it?"

"Chaoji, Guo Jing—doesn't matter! What _matters_ is that someone else went missing last night, and the officials found _his_ body at dusk last night, next to _the house at the edge of the trees_."

"_That_ house, really? How _ghastly!_"

"I know, ri—What're _you_ looking at?"

"_What?_"

"Not _you_, Colette! That white _gutter rat_." Allen blinked when Purple came over and pointed an imperious finger in his face.

"Golly, would you look at _that, _Tiffany!" Colette tittered, raising one delicate hand to her face. "Isn't it hideous? That _hair_—and his _face!_"

"Sorry if my visage offends, madams," Allen amiably replied, fingers twitching slightly with this sudden _itch_. "And I'm sorry to bother you further, since you both seem so very kind, but… I'm so very hungry, and you happen to be carrying some sweets with you…?" He gave Colette his most winning smile and inwardly danced a victory dance when he saw her features soften.

"Oh, Tiffany, can we?" Colette cooed. Allen started when she grabbed his hand—his _left_ hand—and placed the bag of sweets in his palm. "You are so very sweet, even though you're so horridly disfigured like that! A pity, or else I'd be in love, since you're so very _cute—!_"

"Ooh, come, Colette, we'd best get away from that, that _guttersnipe_ before his disease _spreads!_"

"Disease?"

Allen's smile froze when Tiffany pointed at his arm. "That's _obviously_ leprosy!"

"Oh, how _horrid!_" Collete cried, immediately dropping his hand. Allen's smile wilted as the pair of pastel princesses quickly ran away from him. Not that affected by the transaction, though, he quickly opened the bag of sweets, delighting when he saw that the bag was still full.

"Ah, this is a find!" he exulted, plopping three into his mouth. He sighed with great relish and sat back against the market stall behind him to relax and fully enjoy himself.

"That wasn't very nice of you, now was it?"

Allen looked at the elderly woman standing before him, her rheumatic hands planted on the drab brown dress covering her hips. He gave her an innocent smile and replied, in an oh-so-sweet manner, "What do you mean, Mother?"

The aging woman shook her head when the white-haired boy slipped a pink flower print draw string bag from his white-cuffed sleeve. "Thievery doesn't become you, Allen."

"Neither does starvation."

"Simply ask, Allen, and you'll receive." Allen stilled. It was a moment before he could answer. "I'm already too much of a burden for you, Mother, and… I promised Mana that I would keep walking." The woman was slightly taken aback when Allen looked up at her with a bright smile and even brighter eyes. "I want to do that with my own strength."

Mother heaved a sigh, but her disappointment was belied by the wry smile she failed to hide. "That's all well and good, boy, but you'd do best to remember that even strong people have to rely on others at some point."

Allen turned back to his sweets with a wry smile of his own. "Not the strongest."

Mother let out a bark of laughter before sighing. "Well, I'd best get back, shouldn't I? I fear to think of what Buba's been getting up to in my absence."

The old woman started when the young man suddenly hugged her. "Take care, Mother!"

Mother huffed, but she couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face. She gently patted his back. "You be careful now, Allen, and come by the house whenever you feel like having more of Buba's cooking."

He stepped back and smiled widely at her. "I will. Goodbye."

With a small huff and heartfelt "Farewell, boy" Mother turned and started shrugging past the other buyers in the market. It wasn't until she'd gone twenty feet or so that she heard a small jingle coming from her pocket. When she reached in and found a pink flower print draw string bag full of coins, she laughed.

"That stubborn boy."

**^O^**

There was a slight bounce in his step as Allen made his way back home through the darker alley ways. It greatly lifted his spirits that he'd finally been able to repay Mother for all the trouble he'd caused when he'd abruptly appeared on her doorstep.

He smiled up at the clouds as he brought back to mind the incident. It was almost five years ago now since he'd met Mother and Buba. He'd just escaped from another one of Cross' debt collectors, though not without a scratch or two, and he'd gone to the address that Cross had given him, should trouble finally catch up with them.

It was an understatement to say that his appearance there had caused quite a stir.

"_Mother!"_

"_What is it, Buba?"_

"_Th-There's someone at the door!"_

"_Who is it?"_

"_I-I don't know… he says he knows Cross, though."_

"_Well? Tell him to go away!"_

"_B-But he's seriously hurt!"_

"_What? Bring him inside then, you lout!"_

He grinned. Mother had been somewhat reluctant at first, but she'd warmed up to him, especially when she'd heard that Cross had run off without him and left him to the debtors. Again. They'd all had a good laugh together around the hearth, sharing stories of his master's drunken escapades with women and loan sharks.

As he reached into his pocket for the last of the Turkish delight, Allen sighed.

How he missed those days.

**OvO**

**Ah, Eagle Shooting Heroes, anyone? Hahah, no one gets my drama references…**

**Anyways… ARIGATOOO, followers~! Hope that wasn't too much of a hassle to read through!**

**Ah, right. If yall didn't get the ankle comment, people were really conservative and thought that that was a turn on, to see a girl's ankle. So if you think about it, Lenalee must be liiike… SCANDALOUS~!**

**Did I mention? I have a hard time knowing if I'm keeping people IC, so sometimes they're OOC. Like Mother.**

**Reread "Girl in the Steel Corset" and "Girl in the Clockwork Collar" (read both at least five times now) by Kady Cross yesterday to learn some new insults used back in the late 19****th**** century (steampunk chronicles I mentioned jus naow is set in 1897, which is around the same time frame as DGM, yah!), as well as clothing styles and rules of propriety and whatnot. Much more fun reading it in a novel than researching, ne?**

**Had Turkish delight back in elementary school, cuz we were reading "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" in class, and… I didn't like it. Looked appealing enough (like Nutri grain bars!) but that shit tasted disgusting.**

**Ah, right. UPDATES MIGHT BE SLOW(er than they already are) from naow on, since I've buried myself in shitloadsa homework and other school-important stuff. *sigh* How quickly my summer is disappearing on me…**


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